WATCH: The Calgary Chamber of Commerce and Calgary Emergency Management Agency have teamed up to help businesses survive in emergency conditions. Doug Vaessen reports.
CALGARY – The City of Calgary and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce are taking steps to make local businesses disaster-ready.
Members of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) will be visiting local businesses with information about how they can take steps to protect their businesses from disaster with an informational pamphlet titled, “Is your business prepared?”
The first round of visits will focus on areas affected by the 2013 flood and move to other areas including those with a high density of small businesses.
“Whether it was the floods of 2013, the ‘Snowtember’ tree event, or the downtown power outage of this past year, it has become clear that all Calgary businesses need to be prepared to be resilient in case of business interruptions or disasters,” said Adam Legge, President and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
The brochure and supporting online tools inform businesses of the risks they face and help them develop a plan to make sure they stay profitable when disaster strikes.
“We know that on a regular basis we lose power we lose access to our buildings. And a business continuity plan gives you that back up – makes you understand the steps you need to go through when you are affected by whatever the emergency is,” said Chief Tom Sampson of CEMA.
Calgary businesses are encouraged to sign up for the Chamber’s Emergency Business Contact database, which allows CEMA to contact businesses about emergencies that could impact their operations.
For more information on business preparedness, visit calgary.ca/cema and calgarychamber.com.
With files from Doug Vaessen
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